Advertising device.



Patented October 25, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

LESTER L. M. SALSBURY, OF'FRUITVALE, CALIFORNIA.

ADVERTISING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 773,526, dated. October 25, 1904.

Application filed Tanuary 2'7, 1903- Serial No, 140,818. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, L ESTER L. M. SALsBURY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fruitvale, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented a new and useful Advertising Device, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to the art of displaying advertisements in or upon public conveyances; and it consists of an improved means and method of mounting the advertising matter and utilizing the motion ofthe conveyance that carries it to impart motion to it also in various ways and cause it to appear in different attractive constantly-changing aspects to the eye of the observer.

The term public conveyance is used herein in the broadest sense and is meant to include, first, any land or water conveyance designed to carry passengers or freight, or both passengers and freight, such as a car or a train of cars, or a boat or other water-craft, or a vehicle of any kind which the public can use, and, secondly, the said term is intended also to cover any conveyance that may not be for public use, but is destined to be viewed by the publicfor instance, a wagon or truck for transporting goods or delivering the same to and from stores or business-houses, a circus-van or other caravan, and, in short, every vehicle adapted for the reception and display of advertising matter in accordance with the invention herein set forth, whether or not excl usively employed for exhibiting such matter.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation giving a general view of the invention in what is considered one of its most attractive forms, the same comprising a miniature railroad-train bearing some advertisements and mounted for display in a railway coach or carriage, part of which only is shown. Fig. 2 is an enlarged broken View of the engine or locomotive of said miniature train, suggesting one of many ways in which the motion thereto imparted by the moving coach or carriage can be availed of to turn up or otherwise bring into view an advertising card or object the face whereof is normally concealed. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a part of the advertising device adapted to run against a whistling ball or similar sound emitting contrivance and furnished with means for repelling it therefrom and sending it back to the starting-point or beyond after having been set in motion in any given direction. Fig. 4 is a broken side elevation, partly in section, showing the adaptation of the device to setting in motion advertising cards or signs that are normally exposed to View, but would otherwise remain relatively stationary. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-section ofthe form of device represented in the preceding figure, and Fig. 6 is aperspective view'of one of the clamps.

Similar letters of reference wherever they occur indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In its simplest form the said invention would comprise a track or runway suitably laid or built in or on the outside of a public conveyance, as above defined, a wheel-supported or roller-supported advertising medium adapted to run along said track or runway, and a speed-controller to retard and check a too rapid movement of the advertising medium forward or in a given direction and start it or help to start it on its travel backward or in a reverse direction.

The track or runway in the form of the invention exemplified herein constitutes the bottom part of a three-sided frame a (best seen in Fig. 5) and may include one or more rails, (or wires or cords,) as b, on and along which the wheeled advertising medium can ride. Such rails are conveniently secured in longitudinal grooves of the runway, as suggested in said Fig. 5. The said runway, with its rails, is shown in Fig. 1 as applied to one wall of a railway coach or carriage c. It is mounted thereon preferably in a level position and either on the inside or the outside and longitudinally or transversely of the conveyance, according as space permits or the will of the advertiser dictates.

The advertising medium may be any shiftable element adapted to bear advertising matter of any desired. style (plain or ornamental) that is appropriate to the article, thing", or object which it is desired to bring to the notice of the public. It is deemed preferable to have such matter detachable from the element bearing it, and therefore the said medium has been shown in the drawings as composed of two parts namely, a carrier (Z and a card or sign 0, attached to the same. Clamps and screws 0 have been found quite suitable for uniting these two parts, as they admit of the card being removed and the advertisement renewed or altered frequently or as often as desired without injury to the carrier. The clamps f f may conveniently consist of a body portion secured to the carrier by means of suitable fastcning's g r and having flanges or lips between which the advertising matter, such as cards, is held. The clamps may be of the small size shown in detail in Fig. 6, or they may extend the full length of a car or, indeed, of a train of cars comprised in my invention, as shown in Fig. 1. This carrier, with the card thereon, is mounted upon wheels or rollers /a, which are arranged to bear on and travel along the aforesaid runway or the rails thereof and the axles or spindles of which are fitted in grooves 71 of the said carrier, as indicated in Fig. 3, or otherwise suitably connectedtherewith. Thus mounted the advertising medium will necessarily be affected by and in some way or other partake of every movement and change of position of the conveyance in or on which it is placed, for evidently the motion and displacement of the conveyance will cause the wheels or rollers h to run forward and backward on their track or runway, and the resultant motion of the advertising medium by gravity, impulse, momentum, or Ms inert arc will vary with the starting and stopping, (gradual or sudden,) the jerking or steady pulling, the jolting or smooth running, the speed and impetus, the inclination or absence thereof vertically or horizontally, (on tcrrctfirmm) according as a roadway may be level or out of level or uneven, and the travel up or down hill or on sloping ground, the pitching and rolling or rocking, (at sea,) and every other condition attendant upon the movement or stoppage of the vehicle, whether traveling on land or water. As the advertising medium will thus be kept in almost constant motion backward and forward-that is, as long as the conveyance is moving and (owing to acquired force or energy) some time after it has ceased to moveit is apparent that the displayed advertising matter will attract and command a good deal of attention with such benefit or advantage as ordinarily results from persistent appeals to public observation.

To render this improved device more at tractive, and therefore better adapt it to draw the attention of the public-that is to say, of all persons before whom it is placed and who may be occupants of a railway-coach or other conveyance or simply onlookers or passersby'the advertisingmedium is used in connection with a design or picture of a small railway engine or train or other designs carrying or apparently pulling the said medium on its track or runway. Fig. 1 illustrates such a train, which may comprise a miniature locomotive and a special train of passenger-cars or a freight-train, or both passenger and freight cars. T he advertising matter may be worked in or on the said design or picture itself or be seprate therefrom above or below or to one side of it, as preferred, and other designs and advertising matter more or less attractive may appear or be displayed in the background. It is understood that the drive-wheels and pitmen are cut out from the design or picture, (which may be a lithograph or photograph mounted in any suitable manner,) and they are made to move independently of the engine, so that the latter may actually appear to be pulling the cars and advertising matter following it, and the said design or picture is thereby rendered more realistic. As to the other wheels, they may well be stationary, or at least a certain number among them that is to say, they may remain relatively lixed parts of the 'said design or picture.

A controller, as an elastic cord or spring j, is provided to reduce the speed of the advertising medium on the aforesaid rollers or wheels, so that it may not exceed a safe rate of motion on its runway in either direction and also to stop it at the end of its course either way and start it or assist in starting it in a reverse direction, thereby keeping it moving back and forth regularly between its termini while the conveyance is in motion or changes its position. This elastic controller to some extent equalizes the motion of the advertising medium, retarding it when the conveyance would tend to quicken it and accelerating it when the conveyance would cause it to be too slow. The said spring is conveniently located in a groove Z; of the runway, Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and the wheeled ad vertising medium may be engaged or come into engagement therewith in various ways-for instance, through the instrumentality of a catch or stud Z, fixed in and projecting downwardly from the under side of the card-carrier-(Z. Fig. 1 also shows this springin dotted lines. The spring of course may be of any suitable length and duplicated or applied wherever it maybe of service. Other means for controlling the velocity of the advertising medium are, however, contemplated and deemed to be parts of the present invention. Thus it is suggested that instead of using a spring or springs the track or runway may be elevated at either end or at both ends, as indicated at m in Fig. 3, or there may be a rise in the track or runway toward one end, and a spring may be employed at the other end, as the same Fig. 3 suggests; but the spring is believed to merit the preference as a controlling means for the motion of the advertising medium.

Another method of attracting attention which is peculiar to this device is to cause the advertising medium while traveling in either direction along its track or runway to come into contact with other signs or cards that are normally concealed from view and to suddenly place them in position to be seen by turning them around or over or up or down or lifting or lowering them by the power of impact derived from the moving conveyance. This feature of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 2, where the wheeled carrierd is shown as about to raise a hinged sign 12, having its face turned down, to a standing position, (indicated by dotted lines,) that will permit it to be seen and read. Still another capability of drawing attention possessed by the device results from its adaptation to coming into contact with a small rubber ball 0, filled with air, and causing it to make a noise like the whistle of a locomotive. (See Fig. 3.) As shown in this figure, the ball 0 may be secured, if desired, to the same end of the spring 7' with which the catch or stud Z is adapted to come into contact; but the ball may be disconnected from the spring, and other sound emitting or producing objects or apparatus may also be used. That the device may further attract attention it is also adapted to come into contactwith advertising cards or signs that are normally stationary and cause them to move. The construction illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5 embodies the latter feature in one of its simplest forms. As seen in these two views, a sign 1) can be hung by a hinged rod q or other flexible connection from the top or upper part of the frame a, and it will be swung to and fro as the advertising medium passes it by a pin 9", projecting laterally from the carrier cl and striking and going past the lower end of the said rod or of a second rod projecting down from the bottom of the said sign.

In order to prevent the carrier from tipping over andv falling off its track or runway, particularly in case of side motion of the conveyance, screws 8 or similar retaining or steadying means are provided in the top of said carrier, which screws or equivalent means engage a guide 2,, formed in or secured to the top part of the frame a above and paralleling the said track or runway. The frame a may also be furnished with a glass cover it, Fig. 5, which will help to suitably confine the device and afiord it additional protection, while permitting the passengers or public to see the advertising matter displayed on or by it.

The above-described advertising device, it will be understood, may be of any workable size say from six inches to six feet and over in length and of appropriate height or width. No restriction is therefore intended as to its dimensions nor as to its precise details of construction, which can be varied in many ways without deviating from the essential principle of the invention.

Having now described my said invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with a vehicle, of a movable advertising device, carried'thereby, the

direction, and elastic means located intermediate the limits of movement of the traveling member, the elastic means adapted to be impinged and extended by the traveling member, and adapted by its recoil, to positively actuate the member in one direction.

3. The combination with a vehicle of an advertising device comprising a traveling member movable freely in either direction, means located intermediate the limits of movement of the traveling member for positively actuating it. in one direction and a sounding de vice adapted when operated, to attract attention, the sounding device being caused to operate by the traveling member.

4. The combination with a vehicle, of an advertising medium carried thereby and which is actuated by the oscillations of the vehicle, the advertising medium comprising a freelyreciprocating traveling member, means located intermediate the limits of movement of the traveling member against which the member is adapted to impinge, the means being extended by the member, the recoil of the' means adapted to positively actuate the traveling member in one direction irrespectively and independently of the oscillatory movement'of the vehicle.

5. An advertising device for a public conveyance comprising a runway, an advertising medium shiftable back and forth thereon, and a movable sign normally concealed and arranged to be engaged by and brought into view through the movement of said medium.

6. An advertising device for use with a public conveyance comprising a runway, a shifting advertising medium on said runway, and one or more signs normally and relatively stationary adapted to be moved by said medium as it passes the same.

7. An advertising medium comprising a support having a groove formed upon its upper face, rails located on either side of the groove, a traveling member mounted on the rails and a coiled spring received in the groove,

the traveling member adapted to be impelled by the spring.

8. An advertising medium comprising a support, a traveling member mounted thereon, a pneumatic hollow resilient member 10- eated in the path of movement of the traveling member and provided With an aperture, a sounding device connected With the Walls of the aperture, the pneumatic member normally distended, the tra\"eling member adapted to engage the pneumatic member to cause it to expel air.

9. An oscillation-actuated advertising device comprising a support, a freely and automatically reciprocating traveling member movable thereon, pivotally-disposed advertising media located independently of the traveling member and means carried by the mem ber adapted to engage and operate the advertising media.

10. An advertising device comprising a support, a traveling member located thereon, an advertising medium normally out of sight, the engagement of the member With the medium adapted to move the latter into a position Where it can be seen.

11. In an advertising medium, the combination With a support having an incline formed therein, of a traveling member mounted on the support and adapted to ride upon the inclined portion thereof, the incline adapted to impart an accelerated movement to the traveling member.

. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

L. L. M. SALSBURY.

Witnesses:

J AS. S. EocLnsToN, WM. (J. ETHERINGTON. 7 

